[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

Dazadi shuffled across the landing to the penthouse's front door, her face set in a petulant frown reminiscent of a five-year-old in the middle of a tantrum. Leaning heavily against the door, she patted her hips down in search of her keys. Her frown deepened with bewilderment as she realised she didn't have them. Her mouth pursed as Daz slapped her forehead to the thick wood, closing her eyes on a sigh. She'd felt so off-colour and distracted, thanks to that rat of a husband, that she'd forgotten her keys. Dammit!

Shoving away from the door with an explosive sigh, Daz lashed out with a foot, wincing at the sound of her boot hitting the wood and the stab of pain that lanced between her eyes as a result. Close to ramming a fist into the nearest wall, Daz grabbed the doorknob and rattled it viciously, opening her mouth to begin a long, vicious tirade about the nature of its ancestors. And snapped her jaw shut, her teeth clicking together audibly, when the door opened under her hand.

Standing in the open doorway, Daz glanced around the living room, wondering if one of her 'lodgers' had opened it for her, but the place was quiet and she could only sense those annoying little monkeys of Piper's, tucked away happily in their cage. Hmph.

Tiptoeing into the room on wobbly feet, Daz peered at the doorframe to double check she hadn't damaged something, then shut it behind her. Satisfied by the click of the lock falling into place, she looked around the room, but her eyes beginning to water again and she really needed a drink. So, figuring she'd not only forgotten her keys but to lock up behind her in the first place when she left earlier, Daz shuffled into the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing the nearest thing to liquid she could find.

Moments later, she was sprawled in one of the chairs at the kitchen table, a can of soda in one hand, and her chin in the other. Moments after that, she was fast asleep, still lolling around at the kitchen table and using the soda can as a very uncomfortable pillow.

[Piper]

The lift doors pinged open and Piper shifted the stuffed Cowboy under her arm, juggling the laptop bag slung over her shoulder with the two dog leads pulled taut from her waist as she attempted to retrieve her keys from the purse on her belt. "Hold your horses, guys," she murmured to Fawn and Comet as they lunged for the penthouse door, eager for food and a drink. Letting them tug her from the elevator, she scooted onto the landing just as the doors closed, and came to a stop at the door. She had to set the laptop bag down. She didn't dare put the bear down for fear of what Comet would do to it, because while he was perfectly safe with bears at the shop (she'd scolded him enough times for drooling on her work), it was a whole different story if she actually put them in front of him. He just assumed they were his, that she was giving them to him, and immediately started chewing.

Unlocking the door, she tucked the key away and opened it, releasing the two canines from the leads as she bent to retrieve the bag and move inside. Peering into the cage on the occasional table inside the door, she checked that her finger monkies were okay (sleeping adorably as usual) and set the laptop bag down on the floor beside it, kicking the door shut behind her.

She could hear the rhythmic sound of canine tongues lapping at water and smiled faintly. The routine was reassuring, and right on cue, Wolf's coyote appeared shyly from their bedroom where she'd no doubt been napping.

Setting the Cowboy bear on the sofa for Luna to find later as Serene crossed into the kitchen. Following her, Piper squeaked, a near-silent sound of surprise, as she saw Dazadi passed out cold on the table with a can of soda for a pillow. "Um..."

Routine may be reassuring, but this was why Piper had wanted to move. She shouldn't have to feel so damnably vulnerable and afraid in her own home, and just one look at the Aide made her go weak in the knees from nerves.

A well of resentment bubbled up as Piper remembered how Wolf had agreed to move out, but yet here they still were. Not that Piper hadn't been looking for a new place, but Wolf didn't want to move out of the palace and it was difficult to find an apartment here that they both liked.

Sighing, Piper set her chin stubbornly and moved quietly to the cupboard, opening it to pull out the sack of food for the animals. Immediately, Comet was trying to stick his nose inside, with Fawn leaning against his side as if encouraging him and Serene hovering a foot or two behind them. "Get out of it, Comet," Piper chided affectionately, shoving his snout aside so she could lift the bag to fill their bowls. She might as well have shovelled it straight into the wolf's mouth for all the food that went in the tray, but he finally relented and backed off to give the girls some space, his tail wagging in excitement.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

Daz snorted in her sleep, disturbed by the sounds of animals eating and the sense of being surrounded. Her head was so muggy with cold that the potential threat didn't register at first, but then she jerked upright, flinching in a reflexive attempt to catch the soda can as it unstuck from her face and fell to the table. She missed, of course, and swore as she shot back, tumbling the chair over behind her as soda spilled across the table.

She was aware of the confusion a mass exodus as three animals fled the sudden violence, but Daz just stood there, legs splayed around the overturned chair and soda dripping onto the floor, blinking owlishly.

Turning her bleary stare on Piper, Daz sniffled and wiped her eyes, completely unaware of the can-sized ring indented in her cheek. "Dose adibals of yours deed to be shot, dey soud like a herd of edephads," she mumbled through a blocked nose, leaning heavily against the table to retract her legs from the chair and regain her balance.

[Piper]

Piper froze like a rabbit in headlights as Daz shot up out of her seat, spilling soda everywhere and toppling her chair over. Still holding the sack of food, she stared wide-eyed at the Anyelos, shrinking a little.

Dazadi's words somehow freed her from her self-made prison and angered her enough to want to make a retort. She even had one half formed, her mouth open to spew it out, but then her common sense - or perhaps just her cowardice - got the better of her. Just hold on a little longer, Piper, you'll be out of her hair soon...

Steeling herself, Piper closed her mouth, her frown making her look like a grumpy child. Instead of responding to the woman at all, Piper set the sack of food down on the counter and grabbed the nearest towel to clean up the mess. It was only when she turned back to the table, gritting her teeth, that Piper actually saw the indentation the soda can had made on Dazadi's cheek, and then she couldn't keep a snort of laughter from escaping.

Biting her bottom lip to keep her laughter container, Piper pushed the towel through the pool of liquid on the table and avoided looking at Dazadi as she murmured, "There's, um... You, ah..." Clearing her throat in an attempt to disguise another snort of laughter, Piper glanced up at the woman's face and then down again. It wasn't that she found the mark particularly funny on its own, but the fact that it was on a woman who, though filthy and bloody half the time from scrapping and fighting, somehow always managed to seem dignified, and somehow always managed to make Piper feel like the poor cousin.

Well, she wasn't dignified now, was she? "There's a mark... from the can...?" Gesturing at her own cheek, Piper glanced at the woman again. "On your cheek..."

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Dazadi]

This post is rated 16+ for violence.

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

Daz snatched at the towel, snarling at the girl as she mopped up the soda. Instead of soaking it up, the towel just seemed to push it around. "Let me do that, dammit." Worse, the whole situation - her cold, her recent encounter with that damnably cute but ungrateful firefox, Wolf's out-of-the-blue announcement he was leaving home, Kade's reaction to her ultimatum - just, all of it, pushed Dazadi's anger into rage.

Not that it took much to push Daz over the edge anyway. It seemed like any negative emotion eventually turned into anger, and there was only so much of it that she could hold onto before she exploded. It was the laughter that did it, the laughter that the little censored tried to hide, and did such a censored-poor job of hiding. Daz forgot about the spill, forgot about yanking the towel from the little cow, forgot that this was her son's chosen mate. If she was even remotely logical, Daz would have acknowledged, if only to herself, that she was taking out her anger at Kade on someone who didn't really deserve it, but Daz didn't give a censored. She just wanted to pummel something.

Roaring with fury, Daz jerked the chair out of her way and lunged at Piper, both hands reaching for the girl's ever-so-delicate throat. The second she felt the contact, she was going to squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze, and to hell with everything and everyone else. This was the last time the little wretch was going to laugh at Dazadi Rhea!

[Piper]

She shouldn't have laughed. That was the only thing Piper could think as Dazadi's hands closed around her throat. She didn't even have time to squeak, let alone draw breath for a scream, before the ex-assassin was on her, that wild, crazy-eyed snarl scaring her way more than the fact she was squeezing the life out of her.

It was funny. Piper had always known Dazadi was unstable. It was a sense, like she imagined a mouse might get when it was near a hawk, just the knowledge that one wrong move could end in disaster. But, when Piper really thought about it, the Aide had never actually displayed any behaviour that would make Piper think she was unstable. All she'd heard were stories, really, and the supposedly private arguments between her and her husband.

Oh, and that glare, like the woman was fantasising about pot-roasting Piper after some slicing and dicing and the only thing stopping her was Wolf.

Still, Dazadi had never done anything - in Piper's experience, at least - to indicate that she could turn like this. Being afraid of someone, and having them actually attack her, were two totally different things.

Part of her shrivelled up inside, curling into the shadows in an effort to escape the terror. She'd been here before. Not this exact position, but she'd been this helpless. She'd been used as someone's punching bag, not just once or even twice, but a few times too many. As much as she wanted to start fighting back, she just couldn't. But she wasn't about to let someone else use her that way, either.

She lifted her hands to clutch at Dazadi's wrists, gurgling in an effort to speak. "Let... me go." Her voice was surprisingly calm considering she sounded like someone who'd been smoking for centuries, hoarse and abused. If Dazadi didn't listen, though... Maybe it was time to start shrieking for Dora's help.

OOC: GM of Dazadi with permission.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

Ordinarily, nothing could stop Dazadi once she got going. Lost in the need to kill, kill, KILL, she could have happily throttled Piper until the cows came home.

But it wasn't Piper she wanted to throttle. She wasn't interested in seeing the life suck out of the girl. It was no fun bashing on someone who couldn't - or wouldn't - fight back. Actually, it was the exact opposite of fun because Dazadi wasn't a bully. She couldn't enjoy one-sided fights, even when she was in such a rage. She needed someone to fight back.

She needed Kade. The old Kade. The one who'd kick her ass and tell her she was begging for it. The one who wouldn't blanche at the sight of her bloody and bruised, who knew she could take as good as she gave, even before she could heal like an Aide. She missed the clash of metal on metal, the way he'd grin at her like he had a trick up his sleeve. She missed being able to thrash someone, knowing they'd bounce back and not having to hold back.

"Arrrrgh!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, her voice cracking at the end, Dazadi flung herself across the kitchen away from Piper. Grabbing the nearest chair, she spun and smashed it into the cupboards. She released the wooden splinters to grab something else, and something else, and something else, screaming and sobbing and smashing and snarling. "I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, Ihateyou!"

Spent, she slumped to the lino and clutched her head in her hands, her bangs flopping into her eyes and smearing blood from her palms across her cheeks and forehead. Her anger gone, she could only sit there in the midst of what was left of her kitchen, sobbing quietly.

OOC: GM of Piper with permission.

[Piper]

When Dazadi screamed, Piper knew. This was it. The moment she died for real. No Nymph guardian to bring her back, no Wolf blood to regain her strength, no vampire turning to bring her back from the brink of death, and no tank of a red Dragon to intervene. The end. Kick the bucket, kaput, no coming back.

And yet, strangely, all she could think was that the soda would stain if they didn't mop it up quickly.

It took her a few precious seconds of gasping for air and clutching her throat to realise Dazadi had actually let go, and the second that sunk in, she instinctively ducked into the corner against the cupboards, cowering there with her hands over her head as the Aide went berserk.

This was frightening on a whole new level. Wolf, at his worst, hadn't scared her like this and he'd tried to strangle his own mother. He didn't know what he was doing, though; Dazadi did. This wasn't a mindless outburst like Wolf's had been; Dazadi's eyes hadn't been blank while she'd stared into Piper's. She was just... She was...

She was crazy.

Did she really hate Piper that much? Sure seemed it, the way she was screeching now, but Piper doubted it. They were chalk and cheese but Piper had never done anything (besides get engaged to the woman's son) to evoke such a strong emotion.

Silence. Blessed, deafening silence. Perforated by the odd sob. Wait, was Dazadi Rhea crying?

Piper slowly, tentatively and ever so hesitantly lowered her arms to risk a peek at the Aide. Eyes huge in her head, limbs stiff with fear, Piper could only gape at the woman as she realised Dazadi really was crying. Really, really. So... Could Piper dare to hope this wasn't about her at all?

Not at all sure what to do and terrified of setting the woman's anger off again, Piper oh so carefully shuffled into a more comfortable position with her arms wrapped around her knees and her back tucked into the corner. She didn't say a word, just gazed at Dazadi with trepidation and growing sympathy as she wondered what this could be about. And if she could make it to the door without sparking another attack...

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

Kade was really gone.

Dazadi couldn't... quite wrap her head around that fact before now. She didn't know how to. It was her inability to deal with her emotions, with her grief, that had brought Kade back in the first place and now he was gone again. He'd taken her ultimatum, and... Oh gods. He'd left her. He'd left her.

And this wasn't just like he'd died again. Oh no. He'd chosen to leave her. That was so much worse than if he'd died because at least before she could blame herself, blame the monster that killed him, blame the world, but still hold on to him. Now... there was nothing. She could only be angry with him. Oh sure, she blamed herself too, but she blamed him. She couldn't hold on to him if he was running away from her.

This. This was what she'd been afraid of all along, why she'd resisted becoming his lifemate. She'd been so afraid her crazy would drive him away, but he'd forced her hand anyway. And she'd forgiven him because she loved him and no matter what she told him, she wanted nothing more than to be his wife. Maybe she should have refused anyway, just taken the pain of the bondfasting and clobbered him upside the head every day for the rest of their lives as punishment.

In the end, though, it was his pride that killed their marriage. He was stuck in the 1800s, stuck thinking she was still the girl he'd fallen in love with. He'd never come to terms with the fact that she'd grown, hardened, toughened up. That she was actually stronger than him now; at least, had been until he did that whole Black Dragon ritual. Something else she'd forgiven because she loved him, even though it had torn her up inside for him to put himself in so much danger.

And that was the thing of it, wasn't it. She could sacrifice her own sanity, kill herself with worry so he could be happy, but he went berserk if she so much as stubbed a toe.

Dazadi lifted her head slightly to cast a pensive stare at her son's fiance. For once, there was no glare, no malicious thoughts. Daz was too exhausted by her own love life and emotional turmoil to worry about her son or the girl. It was oddly comforting to have the girl here anyway, reminiscent of the nights she'd curled up with a pillow when she was a kid, or with her dagger clutched in her hand when she was grieving Kade's death. If Dazadi'd had the energy, she'd have wondered why but for right now, it didn't matter.

The chick looked terrified of her own shadow again. Daz couldn't really blame her, though, not after what she'd done. It surprised her that Piper hadn't burst into tears or tried to flee. Maybe there was hope for her yet.

And then it occurred to her that the vampire had seen Dazadi crying. Crying. Like some weakling. Crying, when she hadn't even cried after Kade's death. And that familiar snarl made its way back to her face but Dazadi couldn't seem to dredge up the hostility that usually came with it.

Her voice faint, wistful even, Dazadi sighed. "Don't look so worried." She meant it to be a snap, a snarl, but she just sounded weary. "I'm not going to kill you." She'd intended there to be a menacing grin and an unspoken "Yet" but again, she couldn't pull it off. She sat there in a crumpled heap instead, dejected and miserable, hurting in ways she never thought possible. And she could imagine a few.

[Piper]

Piper had watched the Aide warily, scared of what her next move might be, but she wasn't sure how to react when Dazadi just stared at her. It seemed like they just gazed at each other silently for the longest time, and it occurred to Piper that the other woman was thinking up new ways to hurt her. But... it was weird, that stare, because usually when Wolf's mom looked at Piper the simmering violence - that "You don't deserve my son and I'm going to kill you for it" - was so clear, yet now... It was like there was nothing. Not like Wolf when he was just completely blank and unaware of anything around him, but just an emptiness. Like the woman had no reason to care about anything anymore.

Even the snarl seemed half-hearted and merely made Piper swallow nervously, drawing back slightly from her knees and smoothing her hands down her stockings. She glanced away from Dazadi, then to a halfway point where she could see the expressions on the Aide's face without meeting her gaze head-on. She was still afraid to stand up or move towards the exit but when she spoke, the Skotadi seemed so... so...

Piper couldn't put a name to it, but it was horrifiying. For so long now, Dazadi had been such a frightening person. Not because she'd physically lashed out at Piper, or even said anything much verbally beyond the odd grunt and snarl, but she'd actually seemed like the biggest threat to Piper because she was Wolf's mom. She was an Aide. She was so strong, and Piper had envied her that. But now, it seemed like she was completely deflated, and it hurt to hear her speak so sadly.

Piper couldn't help but feel a swell of sympathy. It didn't matter that mere seconds ago, Dazadi had tried to squeeze the life out of her; the fact was, she was Wolf's mom and Piper's love for him extended to his family. At least, it did now Dazadi seemed so much more human.

Swallowing again, Piper opened her mouth, then closed it again. She wasn't sure she should speak. Who knew how the woman would take it? But... she couldn't just leave Wolf's mother in this state. "D-do you... Do you want to... talk? About it?" Whatever "it" was, it must be huge. Piper wasn't sure she even wanted to hear about it, but if it got her out of here alive she was willing to listen. And, even if it meant Dazadi would go back to making her cringe with that snarling glare every time they were in the same room together, it was way better than seeing her so... devasted.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

"There's nothing to talk about."

The words fired off Dazadi's tongue before Piper had really finished asking the question. Automatic, reflexive, like her body countering an attack before her mind realised it was moving.

So much the lie, and such an obvious one at that. Even Dazadi would recognise something was wrong if she were in Piper's position now, looking on as someone else freaked out. Recognise there was a problem... and walk away. She wasn't the type to hold hands or offer a shoulder. If something couldn't be dealt with at the end of a blade, then it was a weakness that should be shunned.

She'd learned to deal better with her emotions since she lifebonded with Kade but she couldn't shake five hundred years' worth of conditioning. She didn't talk about her problems because admitting, even to herself, that there was a problem meant admitting to a weakness that her enemies, or even the people she loved, could use against her.

And still she found herself opening her mouth, and the words flooded out. "He's a censored and I wish I'd never met him." In that moment, she really did. She didn't think of what she would have lost if she'd never met Kade; didn't think that her son would never have existed. In that moment, all that mattered was that she was hurting, and Kade was the cause, and she wanted it gone.

And in her despair, the whole sorry story came pouring out. It didn't matter that it was Piper, the little wimpy coward, that she was spiling the beans to. It wouldn't have mattered who was sitting there, or even if there'd been no one there at all. She just talked. And cried, and talked some more, until her voice was hoarse and her throat was sore and her eyes stung and her head ached, and her heart was numb.

OOC: GM of Piper with permission.

[Piper]

It wasn't like being snapped at was a shock. She hadn't expected Dazadi Rhea to want to talk to her, she'd only offered because it seemed like the polite, and right, thing to do. So when Dazadi told her there was nothing to talk about, Piper snapped her mouth shut and sat there, pouting unconsciously as she struggled to think what to do now. The Aide seemed to have calmed down considerably but there was still something wholly terrifying about her. Maybe it was because Piper was such a jumpy person to begin with, or maybe because she knew for real now that Dazadi was capable of just exploding out of nowhere, but it didn't seem like leaving was the smart thing to do.

And then Dazadi started talking. She just... opened her mouth and words poured out. Half of them didn't make sense to Piper; references to people, places, events that she knew nothing about. Dazadi's entire life history with her husband, from the moment she met him to the moment he left, was suddenly thrust into Piper's lap and she could only stare at it, shocked and horrified because in that moment she saw Dazadi as so much more than a killer. Saw, too, what could happen when someone loved someone else so completely and things didn't work out.

Her heart ached for the woman, and for her husband, and for the fact that they couldn't make it work. Ached, too, for Wolf and the sudden understanding that he'd grown up in such a dysfunctional home. Piper's own family had been less than stellar but Wolf didn't know what family was. He couldn't, because his parents had been so focused on each other they'd pretty much left him to raise himself, and then wondered why he was having so many problems.

Uncertainty swelled inside her, too. If Dazadi and Arkadios, two people who clearly loved each other to distraction, couldn't make a go of things, then how were she and Wolf meant to? Already, there were times when she felt like he didn't even see her, let alone acknowledge her. She'd thought that things would change somehow, and she knew he was trying so hard, but here was his mother telling her a story of how both she and her husband had tried so hard, over and over, to accommodate each others' needs and they'd still not found a compromise.

It was terrifying and heartbreaking, and by the time Dazadi was finished there were tears in Piper's eyes and on her cheeks.

She had no idea what to say. It seemed like she should be trying to give advice, or words of sympathy, but it didn't seem like Dazadi would recognise or accept either of those. She didn't have any advice to give, anyway.

Her mouth worked a few times in an effort to form words of some kind, but in the end Piper could only sit and stare through her tears.

OOC: GM of Dazadi with permission. This is getting rather awkward.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality

[Dazadi]

Piper's Boutique : Dafont : Aethereality : Paper Sweets

---

Well then. That was it.

Dazadi sighed raggedly as she slowly lifted her head out of her hands to blink at Piper, probably looking as weary as she felt. She didn't care right now about the look of pity in the girl's eyes. Or maybe it was sympathy; Daz couldn't tell the difference. Either way, it wasn't an emotion she wanted directed at her and the vampire better keep it off her face the next time they were in a room together.

She didn't say a word. In fact, neither of them spoke, which in itself was unusual. Dazadi had almost grown accustomed to having the silence filled by incessant stammering because Piper seemed incapable of being quiet. Even when it was obvious no one was listening to her - she'd just direct it at her pets instead. Gods knew how Wolf managed to tune her out.

It was a bit of a shock to realise she was actually going to miss that. The apartment had seemed so much more lived in since Piper moved in. Daz almost wished they'd stay, at least until the worst of her grieving was done. Who was she kidding, though, right?

Scowling again, more out of habit than any real ill will now that she was so drained, Daz staggered to her feet. With a grunt that could have meant anything from "see you later" to "kill you later", Daz shuffled out of the kitchen towards her bedroom, with a vague plan to bury herself in the duvet and hug Kade's pillow.

OOC: GM with permission.

[Piper]

What the heck just happened?

Piper sat in the corner against the cupboards with her arms around her knees, staring blankly at the kitchen door where Dazadi had just left. As if she hadn't just spilled her guts all over Piper and tried to kill her into the bargain.

As if nothing weird at all had happened.

Brushing hair out of her eyes, Piper bit her bottom lip, her face twisting into an expression of pure bewilderment. For a second, she scoffed: No wonder Kade fled his marriage with a wife as odd as Dazadi. But then the uncharitable thoughts turned to sympathy again as she imagined how she'd feel knowing Wolf couldn't love her because of her own personality quirks. And she had to face the fact that she had quite a few, many of which she knew he found annoying.

Her fangs sank deeper into her lip and she drew her knees in tighter, forgetting that she was on the kitchen floor for a moment while she panicked at the thought of Wolf versus her less appealing habits.

Apparently deciding it was safe now that Dazadi had left the kitchen, Comet poked his head around the doorway. Piper smiled, relieved to see him and drawn from her thoughts by the reminder that he and the girls hadn't been fed yet.

"C'mon then, guys." Scrambling to her knees, and then her feet, Piper retrieved the bag of dog food as Comet, followed hesitantly by Fawn and Serene, bounded into the kitchen. Piper kept her voice low, afraid to set Dazadi off again, as she chuckled at the wolf's antics and poured dry food into their bowls.

Setting the bag in the cupboard as the trio dug in, Piper watched them for a moment, her mouth twisted as she considered. She felt bad for Wolf's mother, not just because she was Wolf's mom but just because. Piper would have felt bad for anyone in that situation, really, and it made her wish there was something she could do. But, aside from begging Arkadios to come back to his wife - and even then, going on what Dazadi had told her, that wouldn't help them for long - there wasn't much she could do.

Sighing, Piper decided it was probably up to Wolf's mom to sort herself out, and that it was safer for all concerned - most especially herself - if she kept out of it. And locked herself in her room to work until Wolf got home.

Piper's Boutique ¤ Dafont ¤ Aethereality